Division of Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology

Anne Holbrook MD, PharmD, MSc, FRCP(C)
Dr. Anne Holbrook is Director of the Division of Clinical
Pharmacology & Toxicology
and Professor, Department of Medicine at
McMaster University . She is also
an Associate Member
of the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and
Biostatistics
and Senior Scientist at the Centre for Evaluation of Medicines.

Faculty: Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology

Educational Activities

Although the division is one of the smallest in the department, members
play a major role in education. This includes year-round supervision
of medical students and residents on internal medicine clinical teaching
units at St Joseph’s Hospital and Hamilton Health Sciences Centre as
well as rotations through the Medication Assessment Clinic. Faculty are
active supervisors in postgraduate education at the Masters and PhD level
in medical sciences, pharmacology, health research methodology and pharmaceutical
sciences at both McMaster University and the University of Toronto. The
division draws Doctor of Pharmacy students from across the country and
from the United States for clinical and research rotations as well as
undergraduate pharmacology, health sciences and statistics students from
McMaster. In addition, the division is in constant demand for supervising
workshops, electives, tutorials, academic half days and continuing medical
education sessions.

The first cohort of residents from McMaster’s internal medicine program
has just completed their formal clinical pharmacology training in a combined
University of Toronto – McMaster residency program. This program is accredited
by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada . Our CIHR-funded
New Emerging Team on individualizing therapies for seniors coordinates
training for several graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. Finally,
division faculty are inaugural faculty in a new Canada-wide Health Informatics
PhD/Postdoctoral strategic training program.

Research Programs

The Division of Clinical Pharmacology, despite its small numbers, continues
to be highly successful in attracting research funding largely because
of a very wide collaborative network within medicine, pharmacy, nursing,
epidemiology, economics and the social sciences. Currently amongst the
members of the division, more than $15 million worth of research grants
are held. These come from a variety of sources, including the Canadian
Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), Canadian Health Infoway Partnerships
Program, Ontario Ministry of Health, Health Canada , Ontario Program
for Optimal Therapeutics, local hospitals, professional associations
and various pharmaceutical companies. Our research topics focus on the
benefits, harms, economics and evidence for therapies and include projects
examining the impact of electronic medical records and computer-based
decision support on quality of medical care in Canada, the impact of
changes in drug policies on health and health care utilization, patient
preferences regarding therapies, the development, dissemination and implementation
of evidence-based guidelines for therapies, medication assessment and
intervention in primary care clinics, the advancement of pharmaceutical
care, medication adherence support, patients’ needs for therapeutic information,
electronic registries and automated data collection for outcomes research
in priority diseases, mechanisms of drug interactions, and the pulmonary
disposition of pharmaceuticals. As well as scholarly papers and presentations,
members of the division hold multiple copyrights and patents on research
products, software, reports and guidances.

Major Achievements

The division continues to flourish within its home base, the Centre for
Evaluation of Medicines, where members are cross-appointed as senior
scientists. The Centre is based within St Joseph ’s Hospital and is affiliated
with the university. Several of the division's members hold major advisory
roles with the federal and provincial governments, leadership positions
in provincial and national professional societies and are frequently
called upon to advise regarding evidence-based therapy assessment and
decision-making.

Several faculty are recipients of peer-reviewed career awards, including
Dr. Holbrook by a Career Investigator Award from CIHR, Dr. Levine by FSORC
Research Scholar Awards, Dr Dolovich by a CIHR-RxD HRF Career Award and
Dr Labiris by FSORC Career Award. Four of our post-graduate students hold
awards.

Future Directions

Since therapies are an increasingly prevalent and costly sector of health
care, clinical pharmacologists with training in medicine, pharmacology
and epidemiology, are in high demand but critically short supply. Thus
a major immediate goal of the division is the recruitment of new members
to allow us to address the significant needs within healthcare for therapeutics
and toxicology consultation, within the university for undergraduate
and postgraduate clinical pharmacology education, and to expand our involvement
in health policy and research where unmet opportunities abound. Overall,
the division will proceed with its goal of excellence in the research,
teaching and clinical application of pharmacologic principles and evidence-based
therapeutics.